I realise the specs of both devices; The NBG6817 4gb e-mmc sounds like a better deal, and the lack of e-sata is not so important for me; for network storage I prefer a "real NAS".
The R7800 seems more popular, but is it really worth the extra money compared to the Zyxel?
Zyxel is good if you don't need a SATA. It has a dualboot feature that may be useful.
Both are virtually identical, aside from the two differences you mentioned. Bugs and features are very likely to affect both exactly the same.
The NBG6817 might be slightly easier for beginners to flash (starting with master or >=19.03.0) from the OEM webinterface (while the r7800 requires tftp, due to the changed partitioning).
The r7800 provides you with 4+96.5 MB usable space on NAND, the NBG6817 with 2*(4+64) MB in a dual-boot setup on eMMC (which can be quite nice, as it allows reverting to the previous firmware installation with its configuration untouched).
Both have robust push-button tftp recovery mechanisms (the r7800 needs you to push the factory firmware with a tftp client to the router, the NBG6817 pulls it from a tftp-server you provide).
Unless you're looking for a particular feature specific to one of them, you can just base your decision based on availability and prices, both are a good choice for WAN speeds up to 350-400 MBit/s and quite performant for tasks beyond that.
Thanks guys. Just picked up the Zyxel, used but with the original box for 40,= euro after some negation. I guess i cant really go wrong for that price:sunglasses:
40 Euro for this device is too cheap, even used. Either the seller is forced to sell as soon as possible or there is something wrong with the offer.
Prices for new Zyxel NBG6817 start at 170 Euro in Germany. The newest 802.11ax draft routers aside this is the newest generation of high end consumer home routers also, so no need to drop the price so much.
If the device is used and fully functional in A condition it should not sell much under about 85 Euro. If you got it for 40 Euro then for me I would have doubts about the offer.
So I hope you will get the router, the deal is no scam and the device is flawless.
Here in the Netherlands, there is a chain of stores that buy/sell used products. They will give you an invoice including VAT, they will give carry-in warranty (basically money back). And...sometimes they don’t really know what they are selling or how much it is worth. This router for example was in store for more then 1 month already. In that case you could even try and negotiate the price down cause they don’t want to keep stock for a long time.
I got it cheaper than they advertised it for; a R7800 on the Dutch eBay equivalent I could probably get for 75,=
You could sell it on eBay for 75 and buy another one there for the same price 
Unfortunately they only had one device. Anyway for me this didn’t break the bank and maybe I can help with the development of this target (or at least help test). If however the general consensus here was that the R7800 would be better (worth another 30-40 euro) I might have considered. It seemed the more popular of the two devices. (Might be availability, cause I could find a lot of R7800 devices, but this was the only NBG6817)
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